Healthy Banana Nut Butter Breakfast Cookies

When I was younger, I used to sneak any type of dessert item I could for breakfast – cake, those giant ‘mammoth muffins’ from Costco, or pie (usually with the excuse, “But there’s fruit inside!”). Well, that explains my chubby phase in late elementary school. This doesn’t even cover the craving for sugar-laden breakfast cereals like Lucky Charms and Fruit Loops. We all wanted to see the milk turn funny colours, right? and save the marshmallows until the end, slowly eating them until our very favourite (mine was the rainbows) was left swimming in the murky liquid….luckily, my mother rarely, if ever, allowed those cereals in the house.

However, the desire for sweet things (particularly in the morning, for some reason) has never left me. When I spent time in Italy over the past few years, I was delighted to learn that small, sweet items were the norm for breakfast. THE NORM! I thought I had hit the jackpot. I would hoover down their sweet milk with lemon cakes and wee nutella pastries, only stopping to realize that the family I was living with was watching me with amused/frightened smiles. Who am I kidding…they were probably horrified. I would daintily try to finish my meal with a peach or two, but the damage had already been done.

Now, to present day: although sweets still usually get the better of me, I’m trying to cut back on the sugar items at breakfast. I drink my coffee black, I rarely, if ever, add any type of sweetener to my smoothies, and instead try to load up on awesome natural proteins. Then this whole ‘breakfast cookie’ trend started knocking at my door. And these are good. Not in a “Cooooookie crisp!” kind of way, more in a “I’m so satisfied and full” kind of way. There’s no sugar in these other than delicious, wholesome maple syrup, and whatever naturally occuring sugars are in bananas. If you’re looking for sweet, you’ve got the wrong cookie. If you’re looking for an awesome “I’m running out the door and need fuel NOW!”, then you’ve found your match.

This makes: 2 dozen cookies

You will need:

1 cup flour (can use spelt, or whole wheat…they’re pretty forgiving, so feel free to try it with others and let me know!)

1.5 cups oats (rolled or otherwise)

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. finely ground sea salt

1/4 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp. ground cloves

1 ripe mashed banana

2 tbsp. maple syrup

3 tbsp. milk of choice (I use soy)

1/3 cup nut butter

1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Stir all of the ingredients together in a bowl (using a spoon is fine — no use for a blender here, my dears!). Forming into heaping teaspoonfuls, spoon onto a parchment paper-covered pan. Bake for 12 minutes. Once they’re done, let them cool. Eat, dance, and be merry! Keep in mind these bad boys go a bit stale after about 3 days, so share with friends or eat to heart’s content!